Oct 25, 2006
Gina Form Bra closed down:
action needed today!
Your
action is needed TODAY to support the Gina Form
workers in Thailand.
Action
in support of Gina workers at Victoria Secret and
inside the Clover Group office - Hong Kong Oct 20,
2006
Faced with the threat of closure (originally announced
for 31st October) of their factory, and the continued
unwillingness of Gina management to negotiate directly
with the union and to discuss alternatives to closure,
the union stepped up the campaign in the past weeks.
Despite a military coup in their country, the Gina
Form workers have bravely taken to the streets to
stop the closure and they've taken their protest
right to the doors of Clover Group, the parent company
in Hong Kong. On the 20th of October, an action
took place in front of Clover head office, organized
jointly by Hong Kong labor rights NGOs and trade
unions.
Gina
protest in front of US Embassy -- Bangkok - 8
October 2006 During the action,
management committed to a negotiation meeting,
scheduled for 23rd October 2006, between senior
management of Clover Group, the Gina Relations
Workers Union (GRWU) and Hong Kong labour activists.
A few hours later, the Gina Form union representatives
in Hong Kong were informed by their colleagues
that Gina management had announced closure of
the factory effective immediately and was locking
the gate at the Thai factory and demanding workers
sign voluntary resignation letters. They had also
attempted to put a legitimate face on the their
actions by depositing severance payments into
employee bank accounts which were unilaterally
calculated by Gina From and not agreed upon by
the union. Thai police and plain clothes military
were called in, intimidating the workers. Since
October 21st , the union and the workers have
staged a peaceful sit-in outside the factory on
21st October, and have announced protests in front
of the Ministry of Labour and other institutes.
Action
in support of Gina workers at Victoria Secret and
inside the Clover Group office - Hong Kong Oct 20,
2006
The agreed meeting between Clover Group and representatives
of the GWRU did take place; representatives from
various Hong Kong NGOs and the HK Confederation
of Trade Unions and a number of affiliates, including
the garment trade union also attended. Clover
Group once again failed to provide any credible
information to prove their claim that closure
is due to legitimate and unavoidable business
reasons; the company promised to provide only
limited financial information regarding Gina Form,
while refusing to show information regarding Clover
Group, which they admitted was the party deciding
upon closure. Instead, Clover management openly
blamed the union for costing the company too much
money and making the business lose its competitiveness.
Clover Group refused to discuss any alternatives
to closure with the union delegation.
It is important to note that the union has also
objected to the severance package offered via
Clover's lawyers in previous meetings. Clover's
severance offers thus far have been approximately
10% below what Thai law stipulates, as it fails
to include unused paid leave days and other benefits.
Clover also refuses to consider the 6 months hardship
payment that the union has requested, knowing
that most of their member that are over the age
of 30 it will be very difficult to find a job
in the garment sector again.
Due to the lack of real progress in the first
meeting with Clover Group, the union has called
for a tripartite meeting between the Clover Group,
the main buyer (the US company the Limited Brands)
and the union, on Friday the 27th of October.
Please support the union by sending a letter
to Clover Group and the buyers today [click here
to go directly to action request]. See below for
more information on the recent developments, and
on the solidarity actions organized in Thailand,
Hong Kong, the UK, Canada and the USA.
Closure using police and military
personnel
Action
in support of Gina workers at Victoria Secret and
inside the Clover Group office - Hong Kong Oct 20,
2006
At 1PM Bangkok time on the 20th of October, Gina
management began calling workers into their office
in groups of five and pressuring them to sign
"voluntary" resignation letters. Gina
management locked the factory gates and told workers
that they should sign the resignation forms and
then not come back the next day because the factory
was closing and there would be no work. About
an hour later, 10 police officers in uniform including
the local chief showed up outside the factory.
At the same time, two minivans full (approximately
20 people) of military personnel showed up. Some
of these personnel had been previously been identified
by the Ministry of Labour staff as soldiers when
they came to the Ministry with lawyers from Baker
and McKenzie (the global law firm hired by management)
in the past few weeks. At 4pm the police and some
of the soldiers went inside the factory. There
are two exit stairways in the factory, a main
one and the emergency one.
The factory management blocked the main stairway
and stationed soldiers and police along the emergency
exit. The country manager announced that if anyone
resigned today they would get an extra 30 days
pay as "bonus" on top of their severance
and that this offer stands for anyone who signs
the voluntary resignation form before 31st October.
At this point none of the union members have signed
any of the forms.
It is a violation of corporate codes of conduct
and of most national and international laws to
lock workers inside factories and to block emergency
exits. Moreover, it is extremely inappropriate
to involve military personnel in civilian affairs
such as this, especially when police are already
present. The use of the military in this fashion
is also contravenes codes of conduct and international
standards.
Adding insult to injury, Clover Group put out
a press release the same day, stating that full
severance had been offered, and that they would
be donating the remains of "useful materials"
from the factory such as plastic bags and paper
boxes for the flood relief work of Thailand
Still no evidence of financial
necessity for closure
Activists
from Labour behind the Label (the UK chapter of
the CCC) held a picket in front of a Calvin Klein
store, calling for the factory to remain open and
denouncing the closure. London Oct 21, 2006
Management maintains the factory has been operating
at a loss for over 5 years, but even following
requests from various buyers, notably Warnaco
and the Limited, all management has produced is
a one-page statement alluding to accounts filed
with a ministry. They have failed to explain why
they have not provided this information to the
union (though they in fact negotiated a very good
package only last year). Clover Group is closing
a unionized factory with a good compliance track
record, in favor of a Cambodian supplier (where
many labor rights violations are ongoing) and
a China supplier (non-unionized, and highly likely
to also have a bad compliance record).
Buyers have a choice to make here: are they going
to go along with this or not? Over the past weeks,
Warnaco, Limited, the Gap (which buys at the Cambodia
factory) and to a lesser extent Charming Shoppes
have expressed their concern to Clover Group,
and have indicated that failure to come to a satisfactory
solution would negatively impact their business
decisions and their relation with Clover. Though
Clover has responded by making a severance offer
(which the union believes to be unsatisfactory)
the action needed now is for the buyers to send
a very clear message to Clover Group that the
closure of the Gina factory in the absence of
any evidence of legitimate business reasons, the
illegal tactics used and the failure to negotiate
with the union on alternative solutions to keep
the factory open in a transparent manner are unacceptable.
The buyers presently sourcing from Gina Form should
make it clear that, unless this situation is turned
around, they will no longer do business with Clover
and that they expect a tripartite meeting to be
held on Friday the 27th October to seek ways to
keep the factory open. The Limited and Clover
should agree to participate in this meeting and
other Clover buyers should support this.
Severance insufficient
Activists
from Labour behind the Label (the UK chapter of
the CCC) held a picket in front of a Calvin Klein
store, calling for the factory to remain open and
denouncing the closure. London Oct 21, 2006
Though Clover Group claims to have offered and/or
paid severance according to the law, they have
been repeatedly offering union members approximately
10% less than the mandatory severance payment
due. The union has requested and additional 6
months of salary for workers as a hardship payment
(and as compensation for the fact that many of
the employees are older and will likely be unable
to find work again due to hiring preferences in
the garment industry). Clover and Gina management
have shown no sign of being willing to pay this.
On the 25th September 2006, GRWU submitted a
severance package to the tripartite task force
formed by the Human Rights Commission particularly
for the Gina Form case. Since then, Clover Group
International and Gina Form have been refusing
to negotiate the union's severance package. Instead
of doing so, the Gina Form management used administrative
and police pressure in an attempt to coerce workers
into signing resignation letters and accept a
lower-standard severance package unilaterally
offered by the management. The right of workers
and the GRWU to bargain for higher level compensation,
which includes lost opportunity compensation for
middle-aged women employees, maternity compensation
for 100 pregnant female workers and other benefits
under the Thai Labour Relation Act was simply
ignored.
Two-hundred (200) non-union affiliated employees
have signed resignation forms and have accepted
the severance pay(approx. 8/ months pay per employee)
that the company transferred into their accounts.
All the other workers that are union members (about
800) confirm that money was deposited, but are
refusing to take it. Clover Group management issued
misleading information on this matter: they posted
an add in a Hong Kong paper on monday with a quote
from the Thai Ministry of Labor, stating that
"everything in Thailand was settled - all
the workers had accepted severance". It appears
the Ministry of Labour in Thailand did put out
a statement to this effect. On Tuesday (yesterday)
the whole union staged a large protest in front
of their office for putting out a faulty statement
in cahoots with Clover.
Global solidarity actions
Gina
protest - Bangkok - 8 October 2006
On 8th October, over 1000 workers from Gina held
a public demonstration (the first since the coup,
and forbidden according to several decrees) to
the front of the US Embassy, where they held a
rally, gave speeches condemning Clover Group,
called for the factory to be kept open, finally
handing over a letter to the Labor Reporting Officer
of the US Embassy. [see pictures] The rally got
a lot of press attention globally.
In the US, rallies continue to be organized by
the United Student Against Sweatshops (USAS) at
Victoria's Secret stores. The Maquiladora Solidarity
Network (MSN) in Canada got a number of articles
published in mainstream press on the role of La
Senza (former Gina buyer, and current buyer of
Clover in the Cambodia plant).
The action that took place in Hong Kong on the
20th was supported by 30 labour activists from
6 labour organisations and trade unions in Hong
Kong [see pictures]. Since then Hong Kong groups
have also put out a solidarity statement, as have
the Asian Transnational Corporation Network, a
labour solidarity network consisting of 20 labour
and human rights organisations and trade unions
in 12 Asian countries.
On the 21st, activists from Labour behind the
Label (the UK chapter of the CCC) held a picket
in front of a Calvin Klein store in London, calling
for the factory to remain open and denouncing
the closure. A Calvin Klein representative came
halfway through. [see pictures] . On the 22nd,
the ATNC network send out an appeal to the Clover
Group, calling upon their network members to contact
them as well.
Action request
